Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-01-22

The Congressman On HOme.Building
at the Capital again.

1 TIES DOWN.
My Dear Architect: You are right as usual It
| is time began to talk about my own house, and
| gave up railing at washington architecture. II
| you have not eyes to discover its badness shall
never make you see it; no. not IL pile arguments
and epthets as high as-as high as-the loftieSt
artificial structure in the world 1t is the old, old
story: People who have taken in all the ideas
| they are capable OF holding, and have shut and
locked the door OF their understanding, are past
| enlightenment. Let them rest in peace and in
darkness. OF course, am not thinking of you,
but OF the great multitude of the Obtuse whom no
man can number.
| Well, have bought lot on the northeast cor
| ner OF Oregon avenue and street, and must have
all the plans ready for the builders so that the
contract may be made before the first of April. 1
know you will think it as foolish to let the con-
| tract for my house before 1 have taken time
enough to become thoroughly acquainted with the
days courtship More so because the house, once
| built can only be changed with great outlay Of
| time and toll and money, while training ones
stage of adoring perfection, Is labor OF love Of
which man cannot have too much. But you
| know the situation of affairs. must be in WASH
ingtOn, and must have q house OF my own.
Moreover, you have built one house for me, and
know all my tastes and my ambitions my fears
stitions. You know what do not want, and what
must have; at least you ought. But lest you
should get me mixed up with some other client,
I've got little list OF the don't wants. which
Will give you, beginning on the outside.
WHAT HE DOESN'T WANT.
Inprimis, then, I don't want such an exterior
design that the house seen through the wrong end
of telescope, will look like bric-a-brac cabinet
the perfection Of domestic architecture Is not
| merely exaggerated cabinet making. don't want
the front WALL or any other wall OF the house. cut up
into so many members that there is no chance for
generous hOSpitable door, for wide windows and
some expression OF dignity and repose. In short,
don't want business in the composition; and as
n a ranff hah rfl
like builders sample card half dozen kinds OF
stone, various shades OF bricks and terra Gotta in
two kinds OF stone, or bricks and stone, beg you
to avoid a zebra effect in their arrangement. Is
not the leopard known by his Interchangeable spots?
% want my house to be known all over town as
the hinged, Streaked, and spotted house on oregon
avenue? don't want a lot Of grOteSQue mOnu-
ments composed OF bricks and stone, perched pre-
cariOuSly upon the top of the battlement walls
the back bone OF the roof, and called chimneys.
chimney should look like chimney. have no
that It stands right end up, that it is finished, and
not liable to start up and grow foot or two at
any time But give me the plaineSt kind Of q brick
post, without base or capital rather than those
earthquake tempting affairs which appear to be
raised up for the purpose Of cOncealing the poverty
OF design In the essential structure.
Idon't want to be obliged to put in an elevator
in order to enable my wife to go with comfort
from the street level to the first floor Of the house
and from thence to her own chamber You may
make as many stories as you please II you will
keep within the original limit OF forty feet high
to the roof. But unless the rooms are more than
fifteen feet wide don't want them more than
ten feet high.
Idon't want all my windows turned into kaleido-
scopes II eyes are made for SEEING clear plate
has better excuse for being In window than any
fancful variety OF glass; ecclesiastical or secular
When / am ready to retire to a nunnery,-tO a
monastery, l mean,-and wish to shut out all
worldly sights, or when live on shady street or
dirty looking back alley, where there is nothing
hoard
or less OF the uncurtained domestic life in the op
pOsite houses, we will begin to talk about scoored
picture In stained glass, real work OF art Is one
thing, hodge podge in cheap, gaudy colors Is
nadexne But t sson really brings into
cat may look at king, suppose a man may ex-
press his likes and dislikes about his own house,
even after he has put himself into the hands OF an
architect, so will continue the exercises by men,
tiOntng few OF the inside must haves'
WHAT HE DOES WANT.
must have staircase wide enough for two
persons pOrty and majestic pass over it abreast
without crowdng, and easy enough for them to go
up or down without cinging to the balustrade like
shipwrecked mariners TO a broken spar. must
have an open fire in every room in which good
cheer Is desired either CRATE or a regular old
fashioned fireplace and all the rooms without the
fireplace must have an independent ventilating
iue at least as large as the smoke fiues. There Is
little danger, take it, OF actual suffOcation Tor
want OF air enough to breath In any modern dwell
ling that stands in the open country above ground,
and where every movement OF the wind presses
upon one side or another. Even the most care
fully built walls are too porous to prevent gradual
percOlatlOn OF air, not to mention the visible
cracks and crannies that are never wholly lack
ing. But when the house stands, SO to speak, in
stagnant pool OF air, made stagnant by the sur
rounding buildings, the only hope OF continual
fresh supply Is by means OF vertical currents. OF
course my corner lot gives me an advantage but
fresh air Is among the good things OF which it is
not easy to have zoo much.
must have substantial floors. 1 am not par
{nrrlap ollo,,tS vor,
trembling or shaking when Mrs. John walks
across the room in one OF her emphatic moods:
and IL l choose to execute war dance and tip
over the furniture on the second floor no one on
the story below must have any intimation OF what
Is going On. There must be no fire traps, either
don't know or care how houses are framed, but /
have noticed that in OF fire, or even smell
OF fire. the first thing TO be done is to knock hole
through the plaStertng and find, not so much
where the fire s-that is OF but little consequence
but where Is going and how to check its progress
II you leave any such hidden fiues in my house to
carry fire from one side to the other, or from the
lower TO the upper regions, will have you ar
rested for constructive arson.
THIRDLY.
One thing more, and will leave you to begin
the study OF my house in truly professional man
ner OF course, must have plumbing, but while
it will be in the house it must be as completely
Isolated as 1T Is possible to make it. You men,
toned being obliged TO listen through the thin
party walls TO the hydraulic exercises In the adj
joining houses. do not want to hear them In
adjacent rooms In my own house. More than
that, there must not be reminder to any Of our
five senses that there Is any such thing in the
region as sewer, or a waste-pipe, a wash bowl
waIer-clOset, or bath tub. Not that all these
things are not desirable, in the highest degree
but unless they are treated with the StrictesU Sc
verify, they become not merely annoying and
offensive. but extremely dangerous. Now, I have
no idea how it is to be done, but the cleanliness
OF my house must and shall be preserved,
which, as rule, is the least objection
able kind-but in everything that makes
an unclean, unwhOleSOme atmosphere. You
needn't say of course to me for know better
Find me one irst-class house in city block which
has not occasionally, II not always something OF
cept1bie Odor that comes from some form OF I'M
cleanneSS within or under the house, or crawling
stealthily through the adjoining party walls, or
waited in at the windows from its own or its
neighbOrs' unclean areas and back yards, and l
will lind you ten OF the other kind. Miserable
thing under the sun, from unsavory OdOrs to
original sin. and are disgracefully prone to accept
as incurable, evils which an all-wiSe Providence
allows to remain in the world for the express pur-
pose of provoking our earnest protest and calling
forth highest skill and strength in overcoming
dampneSS and the darkness OF our selfish ignor-
ance and make stupid apologies for things that
are in the nature or the case fneXcuSable. We 90
farther than that, and claim great credit for our
selves because we sometimes choose the least Of
two evils, when, goodness knows, We ought to
destroy them both, root and branch, and never
rest till we have established something unQuali-
fedly good In their places
You must pardon this depression. When strike
the neral phases OF house building, the philos-
ophy Of domestic life, am apt to talk longer than